As El Salvador continues its reopening of social and economic activities, the small business owners’ desire to learn and improve, while adapting to the new reality, remains full steam ahead. With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Municipal Governance Project, more than 150 market vendors, most of them women, from the municipalities of Armenia, Cojutepeque, Sonsonate, and Zaragoza participated in a “Market Services Strengthening Training”.
Through this initiative, vendors had the opportunity to learn how to better manage their finances, market their products, implement hygienic measures to handle food, manage solid waste collection and disposal, and improve customer service. The training took place during August and September, through a six-module training and individual mentoring on-site at their workplace to strengthen the acquired skills.
For some participants, this was the first time they had received this type of training. They thanked USAID and expressed how much they appreciated being part of this experience, which will allow them to improve their customer service skills, be more competitive, and work closely with municipal market managers, who also received the training.
“(The training process) is something new for me. They say that you never stop learning… I am very happy because I have learned how to treat customers”, said Blanca Fuentes, who provides her services in the Zaragoza municipal market.
This training was coordinated with local governments in order to improve public services and improve life opportunities for Salvadorans, as part of USAID objectives with this project.
